A Day in the Life...

Me: You girls, what is the first and greatest commandment of all time? Dakota: It's 'stop it!' Me: No. Tim: You all fail.

We went on a walk along the Jordan River Trailway last weekend.  It was so nice!  Tim tried riding Micah's skateboard and did great until he fell flat on his back. Ouch.  Still fun times out as a family! On a whim I browsed KSL and bought three bunnies.  We knew we wanted some but it was definitely impulsive, so we're making do until we're all the way ready.  Micah was just sure she was going to name hers Fruit; thankfully when she saw him she changed her mind and named him Midnight.  Dakota called hers King, which is fitting considering how she views herself; Copper's was unnamed for quite awhile because she can't really make decisions.  Finally she settled on Chester.  They are all male, thank goodness.  Right now they live in our window well with a tote I cut a hole out of and glued felt around.  Soon enough they'll have a real home, but I'm quite surprised at how well the window well is working.  Red and Boots defin...

What a weird of the school year. All new curriculum stopped on the 12th so the teachers spent the last few weeks assigning dumb things.  So, instead, we entered a few reading competitions and bought our own workbooks for the summer.  To say goodbye, each grade had a "wave-bye drive-by" and we took selfies through the van window with our teachers.  Then we picked up all the crap from their desks, with school aides delivering them right to our windows. Copper and Mrs. Clyde.  We've LOVED Mrs. Clyde and she's been the perfect teacher for Copper's 5th grade year. Kota and Micah were mega excited to see everything (plus some) from their desks.  I can't believe the amount of work teachers went to putting together all the kids' stuff.  The girls both earned the 3rd grade Triumph Award.  They spent the school year memorizing multiplication facts, entering contests, writing essays, and competing in Battle of the Books in order to earn it.  The...

When the general Relief Society President beckoned for anyone to help sew masks for a project in conjunction with Intermountain Healthcare, I thought it was pretty cool.  When I heard the masks were in kits of 100 to be made in less than 5 days, I thought it was likely a project for people without little kids and jobs. But then the thought kept nagging me. Two really big promptings to at least check it out.  So I went to the website, watched the video, read the information, and signed up.  I regretted it after my job got really busy, but I honestly prayed that time would be my friend and that I would figure it out.  I wanted to find something to do to get me out of the same old things we've been doing daily- school, work, home stuff.  So I picked up my kit on Tuesday and started that night (right after Taryn's party).  I watched the video over and over while I assembled the first one.  It took twenty minutes to do one because I was a bit afraid I...

We had two big family parties this week and it was so fun! Taryn's birthday was last Sunday (it fell on Mother's Day).  We surprised her in the morning by draping a big birthday banner on the front of her house and had her open gifts outside in the sunshine.  On Tuesday, I had her friends (Kyle and Anne) meet me at my mom's house for a surprise scavenger hunt.  I had already been planning with Kyle and Anne and Taryn was surprised to see everyone show up at her house at the same time with a plan.  I gave them a list of twelve clues and sent them all over Lehi.  They had to take a selfie in front of each location after they figured it out.  It took them to places like the Roller Mills, the bakery, the statue of Porter Rockwell, the rodeo grounds, Harts gas station, the cemetery, and the baby lambs at Christofferson's farm.  Then they blindfolded her and ended back up at my house for a big party with everyone. we had hot dogs and homema...

Last week Tim had 23 TONS of gravel dumped at our house.  He used his machine to level it all out after having spent quite awhile digging out lilac tree stumps, cutting into the grass, and lining it with fancy bricks.  It looks amazing!  The side of our house now has the most perfect finished look, with a place for all his things and a great big pad for a shed.  He's so good at what he does and such a hard worker. I also took some chairs from my mom's she didn't want anymore and painted them a bright orange.  I got this rocking chair for free and painted it a bright blue.  Perfect for the front and back patios! Tim hired two of his cement friends to come finish our back patio (and pour his pad for the shed in the back).  This patio is my dream come true.  One of my yard dreams come true, hahaha.  Three years in the making! The girls put their hands in the cement and I stuck Red's paw print. He did not like it.  Oh we...

The twins' team won the student vs. student Battle of the Books last week.  It's their first year participating and even though it was held through Google Meets, they loved it and want to keep doing it each year. The day after they won, I got a call from the school saying they had selected Dakota to participate in the All Star Team.  She was one of five students out of both the 3rd and 4th grade classrooms to compete against the teachers.  Here she is finding out they creamed  the teachers!  I'm so happy all my girls like to read.  Dakota's super happy because she gets a trophy. Enjoying the sun in the pool I bought the dog.  He's still scared of it and hates water, so they somewhat lounge in it.  It's much too small but they had fun anyway! The last several months for Taryn have been absolute boredom. She actually misses school.  She's been so bored that in one day alone Taryn bought a lizard and randomly painted her room y...

I had two court hearings last week.  I didn't wear shoes to either of them.  I can sit in my room, in pajama bottoms and bare feet, and participate remotely to a court hearing  and have the judge respect and praise all my efforts.  I mean, this particular judge likes me and knows my work, but he had no idea I didn't have shoes on and carried on like I wasn't only ready from the waist up.  That's amazing.  I also have video conferences and meetings bare feet.  Every meeting I have for work is like this.  In fact, I really ought to make it a point to wear jeans twice a week because I'm wearing out my yoga pants from wearing them nearly every single day .  It's kind of awesome.  Even when I see families in person, maybe 2-4 times a month, I'm typically in flip flops and yoga pants.  They don't care, I don't care.  It's super awesome. Copper's school play was cancelled.  All hard work for months and months- twice a week pr...

A year ago my SIL convinced us to get the brother to her pooch.  We did and that's how we got Red.  We sure love him.  Then she got bunnies.  We loved her first batch but they were quickly hunted down by her own beloved pooch who broke into their hutch and chased them down.  A very sad lesson learned but we're happy she got more!  This time they're a bit more protected.  She's had us convinced for a few weeks to get our own, and Dakota especially has been working like crazy doing extra chores to earn what she needs to.  Copper was fine with the idea but Micah firmly stated that first she would run away if we got bunnies; then if she couldn't run away, she'd never leave her room.  When we went to see them, Micah fell head over heels and said she wanted one of her own and was ready to work for it. Then my SIL bugged me to get baby chicks for fresh eggs.  I researched it a bit, toyed around with the idea, and said mayb...